Lee Love on fri 15 mar 02
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ababi"
Hi Ababi,
I understand completely. It gives me the creeps, a little bit.
Sorry!
>From my point of view, you can use decorative wares for dry food.
My raku is not "decorative." Traditional raku was always functional.
I'd put up photos, but all my raku pots are in storage in Minneapolis. I do
plan on making them here in Japan again. Mashiko clay, with all the sand in
it would probably be a good raku clay. I also plan on doing wood fired
earthenware. I like the woodfired French Jaspe ware I've seen articles on.
I also enjoy woodfired slipware. I plan on doing slipware type decoration at
high fire temps.
Raku is a nice way to give some life to lowfire work, without having
to try and fake higher firer work (My other choice is majolica.) Also, raku
kilns are the cheapest kilns you can buy or build. Most people, even in the
city, can fire these kilns. Traditional raku bowls were not made on the
wheel, but handformed. If you follow tradition, you don't even need to buy a
wheel, though a banding wheel might help make things easier. The largest pot
I've ever made was on a small shimpo banding wheel, using the coil and paddle
method.
My main rules for functional raku work are: don't quench
the work in water. This was not done in Japan actually. Don't use mat glazes
or oxides where they will come in contact with the food. Don't use materials
in your glazes that are of questionable saftey (lead, barium, etc.) Make good
use of frits.
The other benefit of working with raku in this way is because the
glazes are stable, you don't have to worry about the colors of the pots changing
over time, except for the nice patinas you get on the inside from use.
> I adopted the strict rules of clayart about food safety, that is why I
> cannot consider raku as a food safe. If you can do such, very good!
Worries about "safety" can be taken to extreme and this is the case (IMHO),
where functional raku is concerned. Fear can be used to enforce standardization
and drain the life out of human effort.
I must have missed this discussion here. What makes a Raku peice
patently unsafe compared to an electric fired peice, with possibly the same
glaze at the same temperature? I'd like to hear the science behind this.
:^)
What we really need to do is just use a little 'ol common sense. I
believe that water quenching and the use of matt oxide decoration are the most
detremental techniques to functional raku. Eliminate those, and use safe
materials, and what you have is simply lowfired ware that is or is not heavily
reduced.
When searching for the white glaze I use, I saw that Mel uses it and
has it on a favorite tea bowl. Comes from a student of Kurt Wild.
You can learn more about raku here: http://www.raku-yaki.or.jp/index-e.html
Lee in Mashiko
"The lyfe so short, the craft so long to learne." - Chaucer -
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| Lee Love ^/(o\| Practice before theory. |
| Ikiru@kami.com |\o)/v - Sotetsu Yanagi - |
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Power unto all things to work and live." - Goethe -
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